• It is the 180th day of the war: 33,207 dead in Gaza and 75,933 wounded since 7 October.
• Palestine at the UN: “Everyone must stop arming Israel”.
• The US proposal: “40 hostages in exchange for six weeks of truce”.
• Iran reiterates: «Israel will be punished for the Damascus raid».
11.21 am – Katz against Erdogan: «Sacrifice the Turkish economy to support Hamas»
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of wanting to “sacrifice” Turkey’s economy to support the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. This was reported by the «Times of Israel» newspaper after Turkey’s announcement that it intends to limit exports to Israel until a ceasefire is established in Gaza. “Erdogan is once again putting the interests of Hamas above the economic well-being of the Turkish people,” he said, according to Katz, indicating that Israel will not stand idly by in the face of such actions and “will respond appropriately by preparing a list extended of further products that Israel will prevent Turkey from exporting”. Not only. Katz said in a statement that he will ask the United States to stop investment in the Turkish economy and to “impose sanctions” against Ankara.
11.21am – Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to evacuate the population from Rafah
The government of Israel has set a date for the military operation in the city of Rafah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this in a post published yesterday on social media. “I have received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo, we are working continuously to achieve our goals, first and foremost the release of all our hostages and complete victory over Hamas. This victory requires entering Rafah and eliminating the terrorist battalions there. It will happen: there is a date”, we read in the post. The government’s announcement comes while only one brigade of the Israeli Defense Forces remains in the field and negotiations are underway for the release of the hostages and for the cessation of hostilities.
10.15am – Iran will attack Israel with militiamen, not directly
Iran will not attack Israel directly but will strike through Iranian forces in the region, two sources close to US intelligence on the matter told CNN, saying Tehran has urged several of its militia groups to simultaneously launch a large-scale attack against Israel. Israel, using drones and missiles, which could attack as early as this week. Tehran fears a dramatic escalation in fighting, the sources say, and does not want to give the United States or its allies an excuse to attack Iran directly.
09.30 am – Iran: «US responsible for the attack on the consulate in Damascus»
“We sent a message to the United States, after the recent Israeli attack on the Iranian consular annex in Damascus, and underlined that, as a total supporter of the Zionist regime, Washington bears direct responsibility for Israel’s crimes and foolish actions.” »: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said this in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus yesterday. This was reported by the ‘Irna’ press agency. Amirabdollahian underlined that “Iran’s response to the Israeli attack and the punishment of the regime” is certain. The minister’s warning follows unofficial reports that Iran had said in its message to the United States that in the event of a ceasefire in Gaza, Tehran would not respond to Israel. The US then asked Iran to use its influence to push Hamas to end the war. For his part, Assad declared that «Israeli attacks on Syria are a sign of madness and extreme disorder within the regime. Such attempts will not help Israel hide its failures.”
08.42 am – Turkey limits exports to Israel
Turkey today imposed limits on exports of numerous goods to Israel, including steel, iron and aluminum products, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce announced. “This decision will remain in effect until Israel declares an immediate ceasefire and allows continued access of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the ministry said in a statement.
07.50 am – Media: «Israeli exercises to strike infrastructures in Iran, including nuclear ones»
Should Iran directly attack Israel in response to the raids on Iran’s diplomatic headquarters in Damascus, Israel would strike targets in Iran in retaliation. The Elaph News publication reported from London, according to the Times of Israel. Citing “a Western security official,” the publication claims that Israel has conducted air maneuvers in recent days that include preparations to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities and other key infrastructure.
07.40 am – Biden’s biographer, Evan Osnos: «If the invasion starts, the president could reconsider weapons for the Jewish state»
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT (Viviana Mazza)
NEW YORK – Evan Osnos wrote a biography of Joe Biden in 2020 after interviewing him several times. And he spoke to him in the Oval Office a couple of weeks ago for the New Yorker, a magazine in which he also wrote about the president’s relationship with Israel and with chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen. Osnos believes that Biden’s change of perspective on Israel in recent days is significant, that he is responding to the tragedy of the humanitarian workers killed “both personally” (because he knows Andrés well) “and political”: ” Because he also responded to current events in Israel, in which there is now extraordinary pressure on Netanyahu with calls for early elections and protests in front of his house. One of the things Biden really believes is that you have to wait until the political season for political choices to be possible. I think this moment has somehow arrived now. And it is also a reflection of his political situation. I don’t want to say that he did it for purely political reasons, but I think he is aware, due to the more intense electoral campaign in recent months, of how all this is felt in America and of what Americans expect from him as a leader and as candidate”.
What do you think of Biden’s management of this war in the past months?
“I think for too long he has been tied to his pre-existing visions of the place and the people at the top. Like all of us, he has benefited but has also been limited by his experience. In October, his instinct was to be as close to the Israeli leadership as possible despite his intense personal frustrations with Netanyahu for fifty years now. But his political vision of him was: I’ll be more effective if I’m “in the room” rather than out criticizing, and maybe that was true but he stopped being so after a while; and he was slow to understand it because he has a rather idealistic vision of politics which can sometimes seem unrealistic. But the truth is that he ultimately changed his position on Israel, the events of the last few days have been significant. If we compare him with Ukraine, I think his experience there was more useful because of his vision of Europe and the possibilities of NATO. Unlike younger politicians, he did not want to give up the idea of NATO as a concrete response to Russian aggression. He deserves credit for organizing this response. But the limitations of his experience showed in his imagining that Republicans would continue to support Ukraine. He told me: “Could you imagine the Republican Party that stood up to Soviet authoritarianism bowing to Vladimir Putin? I think he often finds himself speechless, astonished and horrified by what American politics has become.”
07.23 am – Trump: «Biden 100% with the Palestinians, those who vote for him don’t love Israel»
Former American President Donald Trump says his successor Joe Biden is “100%” on the side of the Palestinians. “Anyone who votes for him doesn’t love Israel and frankly we should ask him: how can a Jewish person vote for Biden or a Democrat since they are 100% on the side of the Palestinians”, Trump said last night in an interview with the broadcaster conservative Real America’s Voice picked up by Israeli media. “It is incredible that Jews historically vote for Democrats. I do not understand. I have been by far more pro-Israeli than any other American president, added the Republican candidate for the 2024 US elections.
05.27 am – Guterres: «Denying access to the media promotes disinformation»
“Denying entry” to the Gaza Strip “to international journalists means allowing disinformation and false narratives to flourish”, says United Nations Director General António Guterres. “An information war has added to the trauma of the war in Gaza, obscuring the facts and shifting blame”, writes Guterres in a post published last night on his X account.
02.32 am – MO: «Israel deploys C-Dome defense system for the first time»
Israel for the first time deployed its ship-mounted defense system, called C-Dome, against a “suspicious” target that entered the country’s airspace near the southern city of Eilat, according to military sources. The C-Dome is a naval version of the Iron Dome air defense system used to protect against rocket and missile attacks. On Monday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported an alert in the Eilat area, which in February was hit by ballistic missile launches intercepted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, allies of Palestinian Hamas militants. “After sirens sounded in the Eilat area to signal a hostile aircraft, IDF naval forces identified a suspicious air target crossing into Israeli territory,” said the IDF, which specified: “The The target was successfully intercepted by the “C-Dome” naval defense system. No injuries or damage were reported. That defense system costs about $50,000 per launch.
01.07 am – Hamas: «Netanyahu’s words on Rafah undermine the negotiations»
Hamas says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s words about an imminence of a ground attack in Rafah “raise questions about the purpose of resuming negotiations”. “The success of any negotiation depends on the end of the aggression,” Sami Abu Zahry, spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement, told the Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera. Hamas’ demands “are clear: an end to the aggression against our people”, added Zahry.
00:54 – MO: «At least 16 Palestinians killed in attacks in central and southern Gaza»
At least 16 Palestinians killed in attacks in central and southern Gaza. This is what the Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera reports. Among the victims there were also women and children. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least five people were killed in an attack on al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. A doctor, identified as Shadi Abu Hassanein, was also killed in an attack in Gaza City. At least ten bodies, including those of six children, have been recovered by civil protection workers after a residential building was bombed in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Several other people were injured in the attacks.
2024-04-09 08:15:00
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